The CW Source

Dear Sera,

Please stop smoking whatever it is that's making you think Bela is a character that fits anywhere except in Harry Potter.

I am not a jealous teen. My daughter is the same age as Padalecki, and she's the one who got me to watch Supernatural. So, I have no problem with putting women on the show. If all the CW wants (as I suspect) is to showcase some young T&A, then giving Dean a weekly roll in the hay with whatever girl he comes across is preferable to Bela. A steady romantic/sex partner will not work for either boy. If it would work, they wouldn't have needed to kill off Jessica.

The original idea MAY have been OK, but the direction the character was taken has made her a truly terrible addition to this show. I was looking forward to a woman of substance and skill who could make me believe she could kick those boys' butts. You didn't deliver.

What we got was a smirk, an awful accent, extremely silly lines, and worst of all, a brand new Dean, a brand new Sam, and a brand new Gordon whenever Bela is in the scene. The absolute worst thing about Bela is how the writers make the boys disappear to fit her in. What happened to the well-trained, dangerous, capable hunters we know and love?

Where's the logic in how Bela has been created? We hear her say she's a "great" thief. If she's so great, why did she hire two goobers who didn't look like they could get past John's storage shed defenses alive to get the foot? Why couldn't the great thief get it herself, along with lots of other valuable artifacts?

How come the "great" thief couldn't get the hand of glory for herself, but Dean COULD get to it and steal it? And then how come Dean turns back into a bumbler and Bela becomes the great thief again who's able to get it out of Dean's inside pocket? How come Gordon can bust out of prison and track Bela but can't track Sam like he did before? How soon after Dean's apparent lobotomy did he just answer Bela's phone call and give her his whereabouts?

Why did the writers try to make light of the situation where Bela steals the foot from Sam? That was a death sentence and she knew it -- and Dean just lets her walk away? No!

And how could any writer put that idiotic look of possible consideration for Bela's "angry sex" line onto Dean's face? Is this the same Dean who wept his heart out over Sam and for whom he sold his soul? The same Dean who went after Gordon for hurting Sam?

These boys WOULD NOT be socializing with this girl; would NOT be helping her; would NOT be talking with her at all.

I don't care what Bela's story is. I don't want to know it. Everything she says and does irritates me, and when she's not on screen, everything I know she's going to say and do irritates me. No redemption! No hook-up with Dean! The day that boy puts even one finger anywhere between Bela's neck and knees, I'm done.

No offense to the actress intended.

To the guy with the navel and belly fetish: You never post anything anywhere about this show that doesn't focus on this actress's specific body part. I sincerely hope you do not live near a school or coach children or have young relatives who sleep over. And when you say "I warn against criticizing Cohan," that sounds obsessive and not normal.

From the original spoilers I thought I would hate Ruby and like Bela. So much for spoilers -- I like Ruby. Her character has a place in the mytharc and as long as she's evil and not overused -- she's OK.
Bela, on the other hand, I loathe and not in the good 'love-to-hate kinda way. She's a sociopath -- which is fine -- except that the Winchesters don't treat her like one. "She's got style" Style? Are you kidding me? That line is still hurting my ears.
'Pod!Dean' someone called the way Dean acts around Bela and that's a pretty perfect description.
Dean's upstairs brain in action is most of the reason I watch the show and the introduction of Bela and the continued interaction between her and Dean is annoying at best.
The only way I could possibly hate Bela more is if she is redeemed in some way.
A villianous Bela who has to deal with Real!Dean might be watchable once in a great long while. Otherwise she should join Jo whereever she is in SN character purgatory.

"it's an episode where there's a real, substantial turn for Bela."

lol. this is ridiculous. is Sera serious? Are you to tell me that the SPN writers think this character is working out sooooo well that they want to redeem her already just so the cw could get the spn romance angle they want so dearly because it's supposedly going to bring in more viewers?

lol

sorry,
this very humorous to me.

Best wishes and support for Lauren Cohan, she is super-hot, supersexy and very talented, and her accent is just totally adorable lovely and sexy. How can you hate Bela, she's so sexy and adorable? She's what this show needs. If I were Dean I'd present her w/ some roses, although maybe that is the softness in me. I warn against criticizing Cohan, that is very unfair and she is doing a very sexy and great job. If she just bared her truly awesome navel and belly ratings would skyrocket and so would I from my pants wow! Thank you Lauren!

Big Lauren fan here.

James Bond Loves Lucy Lawless Forever Always aka David Kashfi

I like Bela. I don't feel that she doesn't fit in. I think that she can stay.

appears to me like those who are screaming "JEALOUS FANGIRLS!" want Supernatural to become One Tree Hill with Demons or scooby doo (after all Bela looks like Daphne and has the brains of Velma). If that happens, I'm gone.

Supernatural is one of my favorite shows and just putting new characters on the show is just stupid. But that is just my opinion so don't get mad thats what think!

"They quite literally don't care about any fan not in their target demographic."

That was evident through the CW's "request" for changes to SPN when they know SPN has a widespread fanbase.

Also, I don't think it's a coincidence that Katie Cassidy was hired. After all KC has the "look" the CW promotes. She's too commercial for a strong demonic force on Supernatural & I doubt that KC fits Eric Kripke's original vision of Ruby.

Regarding shoehorn...I mean Bela: her presence is unnecessary on the level that the episodes are being dragged down due to the poorly written Bela scenes. (ie...dumbing down of the central characters. Bela using a spirit board as a plausible device to find objects and people at random.) It appears there is a struggle as to where this character will mesh into the story. So far it's not going so well. RSAM was (IMO) such a terrible episode that I would rather watch No Exit and Bugs back to back.

Don't get me wrong. I am another person who thought that I would like Bela and hate Ruby. The opposite (sortof) happened. I'm intruiged with the arc surrounding Ruby even though Katie requires a lot of assistance with her acting. Bela is a boring, uninteresting cliche who will become a cliche of a cliche once redeemed. I don't like her, I don't hate her, she's just blah. Also, the character's personality and demeanor would be better suited for a program such as Gossip Girl or Dirty Sexy Money. I prefer to watch a badly acted character that has a purpose in/adds to the story than a decently acted character that is useless. Bela scenes make me (and apparently others) want to change the channel. That is not a good sign and it's showing in the ratings. IMHO-I have no desire to view another Bela centric episode - even if Jensen or Jared is full-on naked.

I wish Kipke didn't bow down to the CW and stuck with his original plan for Bela as a one episode stint. Hopefully, Kripke reads these posts and post-strike decides to add a wonderfully scripted scene where Dean kills Bela. After this the writers can concentrate on more important issues/developments in the plot.

am a 40 something... OK,.. a 50 something fan not a young thing prone to jelousy over TV charactors.

Don't brag about that. They don't care about you. All Dawn O. and the other TV execs care about are teens and very young adults(they say 18 to 34 but really it's more like 18 to 24:). It doesn't make your opinion mean more. They quite literally don't care about any fan not in their target demographic. As a result I doubt Sera Gamble cares either.

am a 40 something... OK,.. a 50 something fan not a young thing prone to jelousy over TV charrictors. My point made I must say I am not a Bela fan. I take no pleasure in watching Bela play Sam and Dean for fools, Dean in particular. Why is it that Dean has suddenly lost all the witt and charm of seasons one and two? Bela calls him stupid and incompatant in verious differant ways and Dean just stares back in silance. It's frustrating, it's anoying and more than a little cruel given the self esteem issues the charrictor is dealing with. What has happined to Dean. Has he been labotimised or is he on alfa blockers? I know they can have a profound affect on short term memory and the ablility to recall words. Come, come, writers give Dean back his back bone. He's become a dull witted supporting charrictor in Sam's journey toword either the trueth or damnation and this season is slowly loosing it's appeal.
By all means provide a love interest for Dean but not one as unfit as Bela. Consider the charrictor you have created. She has been in the buisness of aquiring and selling cursed and supernatural objects, heedless of who dies in the prosess... or as a result. You introdused her stealing a rabbit's foot from Sam knowing it would kill him and she had a big smile on her face at the time too. She had no qualms about trying to shoot Dean when he recovered it and then shot Sam while trying to steal the foot back. Aware this time it would kill them both. Lovely girl. Lets look at her some more, she bilks old peaple out of their money, and sold out Sam and Dean for a 'mojo bag' ("he had a gun on me" she was realy worried about that, NOT!). You've mentioned a possible back story for Bela and there's talk of her as a love interest for Dean. Oh dear Lord, I hope your kidding, because I couldn't think of anything worse. I wouldn't bother watching a story dedicated to Bela, I can only just tolerate her as it is, and the idea of her as a Dean's lover is nauseating. Lets face it, the girl is revolting, there's nothing there to love. I don't care what her back story is, I don't wont to know her sad, sad tale of woe. There is simply no escuse for her mersonary ways. All the hunters including Sam and Dean have tragic tales. If you try to excuse her as more tragic than a burnd wife, or mother, or intended, (Jesse) or lost child (the Magnificent Seven) it it will be the most distasteful story imaginable. You could no more pardon her than you could Gordon. No, she's worse, she knows what she is and is content while Gordon was so twisted he thought he was a rightous man. Even worse would be if Sam and Dean forgive her her crimes against them and against anyone else she's harmed. Not everyone could have escaped her as Sam and Dean had. No dout meny of the objects traded were used to kill and or destroy as she knew they would be. As such she must bare some responcabiliy. How meny lives has she to answere for? Yes if you sell a gun to some one you know intends to kill some one you are an acsessery to murder. (AS A VICTOM I WOULD DEARLY LOVE TO SEE TV STOP EXCUSING PEAPLE FOR VICTOMISING OTHERS BECAUSE THEY WERE VICTOMS, MAYBE THERE WOULD BE LESS VICTOMS LIKE ME.) If you stay faithfull to the charrictor of Dean the next time he sees Bela he will try to shoot her right between the eyes.

Sam: No Dean you can't it's murder.

Dean: How meny times has she tried to kill us or damn near killed us?

Sam: But she's not doing it now.

Dean to Bela: Will you hurry up and try to shoot me so I can kill you.

Sam to Bela: Yah any time now, we're kind of on a scedual.

Clasic Supernatural when dealing with a slimy nasty, self absorbed, b**ch like Bela. Any attempt to redeem her would be inexcussable. She's a villin, use her like one. There can be no romance between her and Dean unless it's intirely one sided. Intirely on her side. (It could be entertaining to have the great persuer of women being perued by someone he's desperate to get away from.) Anything else would be repugnant and I simply could't watch. I mean this quite sincerly. I would have a difficult time continuing to watch the show with them as a couple. The infedelaty to the character's peronalitiy and to the show itself would stick in the back of my mind and nag me. Besides Bela would have to have a personality transplant to make her remotely likable. Supernatural isn't a soap opera were peaple change partners, careers, and sides (or soles) on a whim nor is it reality were God's power can work miracles and save anybody, though I think in Bela's case it would take years of industral strength therapy to turn her into a human being. Matching Dean, who has been so deprived all his life, with someome so horribly tainted would be poor form. Time for something possitive in the boys life. For once he should have something fresh, clean and not in need of repairs.

I've seen it happin meny times before in the past 40 years. An original show with a great premis and a lot of promise gets improved to death. Litteraly. There's a reason the ratings are going down. You keep getting further away from where you started. Original Dean would never soil himself with trash like Bela, and we must save Sam from sceeming Ruby. DONT TAKE THIS SO FAR WE CAM'T SEE DAY LIGHT!
TheMic
mightymic@rogers.com

After the spoilers, I was expecting to hate Ruby and like Bela. Interestingly enough, the opposite has happened.

I LIKE the character of Ruby, but am very disappointed in Katie's performance.

I like Lauren, but have come to hate the addition of Bela... not in a "love to hate" manner, just "hate", as in affecting the show negatively.

I felt the exact same way as Mousista did then and I feel pretty much the same way as she does now. When the sides came out, Bela seemed to have such potential and Ruby really didn't seem to have any. Now, IMO, both characters have potential but Ruby's is being held back by Katie Cassidy who is NOT doing the character justice and Bela is being held back by the writer's refusal to commit to making her an antagonist as she should be.

***I am way past flailing fangirl age***

This fandom proves that the middle-aged fangirls and boys are the flailiest kind. They just do it with bigger words and better-constructed sentences.

Let the feeding frenzy continue.

Well, my reality and fantasy don't blur, so I have no problem separating out the actor from the character they portray. After the spoilers, I was expecting to hate Ruby and like Bela. Interestingly enough, the opposite has happened.

I LIKE the character of Ruby, but am very disappointed in Katie's performance.
I like Lauren, but have come to hate the addition of Bela... not in a "love to hate" manner, just "hate", as in affecting the show negatively.

The sooner that Bela is sent packing to Europe and that Ruby is exorcised, the sooner we can get back to the real Supernatural. I know it's there somewhere...

(p.s. hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!)

I got news for Sera. I (and many, many other fans) will never, ever, ever like Bela. I don't care about her past, I don't care about her. A sob story about her past isn't going to make me like her. I want Dean to shoot her. A lot.

I am way past flailing fangirl age and not against Dean getting a girlfriend (I liked Cassie!) and many other females in this show. Bela has done things that season 1 & 2 Dean would flat out knock her on her ass for, and in season 3 he's giving her his cell number? Ummm NO. Bela must go. If Dean has sex with her, or even kisses her? It'll be over for me. He wouldn't do that, not the Dean I know.

Take this time because of the strike to rethink Bela. She needs to go.

Ruby on the otherhand fits in perfectly and I want her to stay.

Appalled barely describes my reaction to Miss Gamble’s idea of wasting one of our precious episodes on the background of such an insignificant character. Isn’t it enough that we have to have one or the other “hot chick” in every episode? Now we have to have a whole show about one of them too! It’s like waiting to enjoy your favorite desert once a week and crunching on a bug when you finally bite into it. Makes you gag.

I am just stunned that these characters were brought in and used in so many episodes. It doesn’t follow the series flow at all! John, Bobby, Meg, Gordon, were all used sparingly throughout the show and have been effective additions to the stories. The use of these two interlopers so frequently this season just doesn’t make any sense at all. The storyline of Sam’s abilities was used sparingly over season 1 & 2 and now you can’t throw a rock without hitting one or both of the gruesome twosome in every episode so far in season 3. Can we say overkill?

Bella is the Miguelito Loveless (Wild Wild West) of Supernatural. This type of character needs to be used in very small doses and is not redeemable at all. At least, not if you want to keep the integrity of your show viable.

And what has happened to Dean? I’m beginning to think that it’s Dean that didn’t come back from the deal with the crossroads demon 100%!

Let’s see now, Dean has spent his life protecting Sammy:
Season One
Carries 6 month old Sammy out of their burning house. (Pilot, Home)
Is virtually mother, father, brother and best friend to Sam all of his life. (Pilot, Home, Benders)
Rescues Sam from the burning apartment when Jessica is killed. (Pilot)
Saves Sam from Bloody Mary. (Bloody Mary)
Saves Sam from evil doctor. (Asylum)
Threatens to “kill you all if you hurt my brother.” (Benders)
Has lived with horrible guilt because he wasn’t the one who saved Sam from the Shtriga. (Something Wicked)
Season Two
Beats Gordon to pulp for endangering Sam. (Bloodlust)
Tells Sam that he won’t last long if Sam dies from the virus/commits suicide. (Croatoan)
Saves Sam again from Gordon (Hunted)
Spends a frantic week looking for Sam, when he disappears. (Born Under a Bad Sign)
Decided to come back to “reality” and his brother Sam, when offered a perfect life. (What is, And What Should Never Be)
Trades his soul to bring his brother Sammy back to life, because life without him isn’t worth living (All Hell Breaks Loose 1 & 2)
Season Three
Enter Pod Dean.
Shrugs it off when Bella shoots Sam. (Bad Day At Black Rock)
Shrugs it off again, when the subject of Bella shooting Sam is brought up. (Red Sky At Morning)
Doesn’t kill Bella when she turns them over to Gordon. (Fresh Blood)

Now, after a lifetime of protecting Sam, and both Sam and Dean handling their own hunts, suddenly Dean turns stupid because of the insertion of the almighty Bella? He seems to become speechless in her presence? He is unconcerned that she has tried to kill Sam multiple times.

A redemption ep. for this character???? And you guys wonder why we don’t like women regulars on the show. When Gordon first talks about his sister being turned into a vampire, you feel some sympathy for him, until you find out that he killed her! And then he goes after Sam and gets others to do so as well. But, Bella goes after Sam and Dean first and then we’re supposed to get some sob story that’s going to make everything that she’s done okay? Why, because she’s “got style,” has a foreign accent, has t*ts? That makes sense, NOT!

If Dean has any kind of sex with this character, he will be the biggest a**hole of a brother that ever lived.

It's interesting how everyone seems to claim that every side in a fan debate can't separate the characters from the actors.

The people who loathe characters for good reasons can give all those reasons without resorting to anything personal--and still, defenders of the characters seem to cry "foul! You're picking on the poor actress' personal appearance!"

Yet, it's a little difficult to criticize a character's accent (for example) without that being a criticism of the actress. It is her voice, inflection, and ability to mimic correctly. The actress gives life (or not) to the character, just as much as whatever lame cliches the writers give them to do on paper.

Both sides claim that it's the other side that's doing it, but neither believes it's them. Honestly, I don't think there's a way of separating them. Personal attacks are bad, but personal appearance and manner ARE part of the character. There's no reason to be mean about it, but still (using the accent again) if it sounds fake, then that's going to be brought up, again and again. If someone is too thin to pick up a 60 pound weight, that will too. (Of course, if the character isn't human, the point becomes moot.)

And if an actress has personal issues, those are going to be in the back of someone's mind when they comment on the character. It's inevitable. It's also part of the "hollywood" lifestyle. If actors don't want to be caught doing something they shouldn't be doing, then they shouldn't do it. If they are caught, it's fair game. Anyone who knows she's "in the spotlight" knows that papparazzi try to find public figures in compromising positions. The best thing would be NOT to put yourself in a compromising position.

I didn't like the characters of Ruby or Bela on paper, and neither of the actresses have managed to convince me in any way, shape or form that these characters are anything but a lame addition for the fanboys to drool over. On paper or as portrayed by the actresses, they add nothing to the mythology of the show, nor are they convincing me that they're three dimensional enough to exist within any plot they've attempted to fit into.

Lose them, Kripke, and let's have more of the Winchester brothers that USED to be featured in seasons one and two...

Now that she has some extra time on her hands, it’s possible that Ms. Gamble is visiting this forum to read some of the feedback, so I want to offer my sincere GRATITUDE and APPRECIATION for her work on Supernatural. Her talents have brought us some of my favorite episodes (Nightmare, Faith, Salvation, Bloodlust, and AHBL/I). With Fresh Blood, I THANK Sera for returning Supernatural to the show we originally fell in love with. BUT...

This season has felt quite a bit "off" so far and I cannot, in good conscience, lay the entire blame on the addition of RuBela. Yes, we the fandom still call them RuBela, because based on the original summer descriptions of "kick-a$$ hunter-babe girlfriends making the Winchesters look like the Hardy Boys" they would’ve/ could’ve/ might-still-be an infectious plague on our beloved Supernatural, thus earning their "RuBela" nickname. So far, the introduction of this eye-candy has not manifested in higher ratings and the Winchesters ARE starting to look like the Hardy Boys caught in remakes of Moonlighting, with sprinkles of Remington Steele. Which is sad really because I was looking forward to liking Bela -- a unique character who is neither demon or hunter.

I am not surprised by some of the comments and reactions with regards to Bela in Fresh Blood. Whereas "Red Sky at Morning" walked the precarious fine line of being Bela’s "No Exit" (contrived situations to showcase the secondary character necessitating the dumbing-down of the Winchesters in order to do so), Sera’s presentation of Bela did something that I didn’t think was possible: make me accept Bela’s presence, even if just a little bit. Granted, the presentation left many holes by trying to inject her into the story, the most glaring ones being that Dean would never trust her with his location so easily, nor did Gordon need her help to find them. At least Sera kept it realistic by having her be 100 miles away and NOT intersecting with the brothers again so soon, as well as keeping her interactions at a minimum. That said, I wouldn’t miss her if she were to just go away.

Introducing women on the show has been hit and miss. The hits have generally been: Jess, Sarah, Layla, Missouri, Carmen, Ava, Mara, Ellen, Meg. The misses have been Jo, and now Bela and even Ruby. (is there a pattern there, if I look real hard?) The character of Ruby may be complicated on paper, but the written words can only be brought to life through a great performance by the actor. Regrettably, this isn’t happening. Someone called Ms. Cassidy "a great find" and I will simply respectfully vehemently disagree. Sera says of Ruby, "You can’t dismiss her, you can’t just shoot her with the Colt"... really? why not? the Colt is supposed to be able to kill anything. Breaking canon to justify these girls' presence is part of the problem. Just as with Bela when Dean nonchalantly dismissed her shooting Sam. In Benders, Dean threatened, "If you hurt my brother, I will kill you all." In Hunted he told Gordon, "you do that to my brother, I’ll kill you." And now he shrugs it off? A shooting? Of the brother he’s giving up his life and soul for? Nope, not likely. Where has the continuity and consistency gone lately?

The problem is the amount of recurrence of these new characters to the point of making Ruby into a deux ex machina and Bela into a Mary-Sue. Up to 12 appearances each in a normal season (IF we even get a normal season now) is too much for any supporting character. It would have been too much even for beloved Bobby, but completely outrageous for these newbies. It’s making SN feel like an ensemble show, which is NOT what we originally signed up for. As a one-time presentation in Bad Day, Bela would have worked well, leaving the door open for another one-time future appearance. The demand to make her recurring has forced the glaringly uncomfortable interjection of this character into episodes in highly contrived ways, making Sam and Dean react very out of character to make her look better. In my opinion, once the minimum contracted six episodes are done, Bela needs to be sent packing back to England, and Ruby needs to be exorcised asap to return much later in a different "meatsuit", IF she is to return at all. (I hear bartender Casey has a twin sister, oh and Meg has a look-alike cousin too! **wink**) Perhaps after releasing these "regulars" SN will have enough money in its budget to bring back the classic rock so sorely missing lately. Simply, Bela doesn’t work and Ms. Cassidy cannot pull off the depth needed for demonic Ruby, even if Ms. Aycox were to give her lessons.

The writers have a unique challenge with a show like SN, which has a genre audience. Rabidly devoted, overly protective, and almost a part of the process. Audiences of such genre shows are extremely detail-oriented and you can’t get one past them without good reason. Perhaps the rush to finish scripts affected the usual cohesiveness of details... and perhaps that is why this season has felt quite a bit "off". The strike is offering a respite... use it to regroup and re-examine. Season 3 was going to be "the best season yet" because the war was on and the deal was going to force the brothers to share and be even closer. They don’t need additional trouble from the likes of RuBela when adversaries such as Gordon, Henricksen and Meg are around (well, one down). We were told to pick a side in this war, and we’re on the side of the Winchesters, like we’ve always been since the Pilot. Let’s never forget what it is that makes this show so special.

Yet somehow people can say even worse things about Katie Cassidy and still like or at least find the character of Ruby tolerable, so it's not jealous fangirls(especially seeing as at least a few of these people are fanboys!)

Yes and fanboys always love female characters who trespass into an all-male domain. And gay men are never, ever misogynistic. And God knows women are never mean to other women. Oh please.

I do agree that people were pretty nasty to Cassidy before she was deemed "acceptable" once revealed as a demon. Then the whole-sale attacks on her personality and appearance abated. Of course since then she's gotten herself arrested for under-age drinking and that has raised some pretty horrible commentary about her once again. Which kind of makes my larger point that fandom is particularly hard on young women.

Meanwhile even though Cohan came in with some goodwill, I'm not sure that was ever shared by Bela as a character. My perception was that she was pegged as the most likely love interest so the "standards" for her were almost impossibly high from the get-go.

Regardless, all I'm saying is disliking either Ruby or Bela is not an excuse for either fangirls or fanboys to go on and on picking apart the way an actress looks, walks, talks and behaves with such hatefulness. It smacks to me of misogyny and yes it makes me dismiss other possibly valid opinions as immature ranting. It's just the way I react. For the record I don't like it when that stuff happens to male characters/actors either, as I've certainly seen with Jensen Ackles on more than one occasion.

The writers aren't trying to make Bela an interesting character in her own right. Or if they are, they are failing miserably in my opinion. She is a huge cliche.

I don't disagree that Bela is a cliche, but so is pretty much everything on Supernatural. Ruby, Sam and Dean are all cliches or character-types we've seen before. Doesn't mean they can't be performed or written well, at least in Dean and Sam's case. Now while I wouldn't put Cohan in Ackles' class as an actor, I'm still enjoying her and Bela as a character. People can disagree with that without demanding the character's utter and complete humiliation (which is what happened to Jo and which I personally found disturbing) or taking nasty stabs at the actress.

You can dislike a character and not like a performance without resorting to vicious attacks on the actress that plays her. I can understand why anyone who reads that kind of nastiness, then dismisses the opinions as those of jealous fangirls.

Yet somehow people can say even worse things about Katie Cassidy and still like or at least find the character of Ruby tolerable, so it's not jealous fangirls(especially seeing as at least a few of these people are fanboys!)

Lauren Cohan has had it a heck of a lot easier than Katie Cassidy has in that sense and had a heck of a lot more goodwill pointed her way to start with. So the cries of "jealous fangirls" smacks of trying to invalidate the mostly well-thought out and well-supported arguments of those who dislike the character.

The writers aren't trying to make Bela an interesting character in her own right. Or if they are, they are failing miserably in my opinion. She is a huge cliche. As good or better than Sam at research, even more cool under pressure and damaged than Dean. From her boohoo, no one understands sobstory to her upcoming she shall see the light redemption to the forced, unoriginal "cutesy" banter to the fact that Dean and Sam, but especially Dean, need to turn into barely verbal morons just to make room for her in the storylines because otherwise they can already do just about everything she can do. Con? Check. Research? Check. Breaking and Entering? Check. Talk on Ouija boards? Check(IMTOD). The list goes on.

The main thing she has they don't, besides two X chromosomes, is that she's somewhere between a sociopath and psychopath. Only for some reason(apparently those two X chromosomes) instead of treating her like Gordon, the show treats her like she's supposed fun and charming and we should just be rooting for her to get with our heroes because "she could be so valuable to them". Yet instead many people were yelling for Gordon to shoot her.

Not to mention that(the Ouija board) is about the lamest plot device ever to force a character into a story. Just another hop, skip and jump towards Charmed-ification. Where are my water skis, I think I see sharks circling.

Maxie

I guess I need to clarify. When I mentioned those girls, I meant that if they were the ones that it was hinted that Dean might be hooking-up with then I don't think that fans would have reacted like they have now with the seeming possibility of Bela and Dean hooking-up, I didn't mean that anyone of them would make a good regular or that they should show up for 12 episodes. IMO, there are only two types of characters that can really appear regularly on Supernatural - hunters/people directly invovled in the supernatural world (Bela included - and I wouldn't mind her character if the writers would quit with the whole redemption angle) and demons/other supernatural creatures; having a character whose sole purpose is to be a love-interest really wouldn't work on SN, IMO.

If the writers had announced that they were bringing Layla or Hayley or Mara or even Ellen back and that things might start cooking between Dean and said female character, I doubt that the majority of fans would be having the reaction that is going on now; in fact it'd be quite the opposite I think!

So much retconning going on in the fandom these days. If you go back and read the reactions on various boards to any one of these characters, they were always mixed at best.

Layla got the most positive reaction, but some found her a little too saintly. Ellen started to grow on people after a couple of epoisodes because of the actor's strong portrayal, but the writing and development of the character was fairly sloppy and inconsistent.

And Meg, whom everyone is now holding up a some shining example of the perfect female characters, was almost universally loathed when she first showed up. It took more than a couple of episodes for people to warm up to both the actress and the character. She was also never meant to be a love interest so people didn't mind her too much.

The only really "successful" love interest this show has managed to produce is Sarah. But I'm willing to bet if she showed up in 12 episodes, people would be screeching "shoe-horn" from the rafters and getting sick of her pretty quick too.

So please don't bother trying to sell the idea that any of the females mentioned above would have been instantly acceptable as love interests because I simply cannot buy that.

"We're breaking an episode that we'll return to when we have put down our picket signs, and it's an episode where there's a real, substantial turn for Bela."

Well, here's the second episode of Supernatural I will never watch.(welcome to the No Exit club!)
I feel absolutely betrayed by Kripke & co. He begged us fans to write letters and campaign to keep SN on the air for a third season. And the fans stepped up to the plate. Whether it was truely our letter campaign or not that actually kept the show on the air will never be known. But, we did give our all when asked. Then, then! after the fiasco of the roadies last year, Kripke not only brings ONE new "hot chick" on the show, but TWO!! What a slap in the face! And it's starting to split the fandom. Way to go K!
So, he always "intended" to bring in more lead characters to the show. Well, that's not what it looked like in season one. Maybe a disclaimer could have been put in the credits,"By the way, don't get too attached to the show this year, because we're going to revamp it every year that it's on, cause deep down, we really want it to be One Tree Hill with ghosts"
I only watch shows that I really enjoy. They're an escape from reality, someplace "safe" to hide in from the daily stress for awhile. Frankly, this show and fandom have become more stressful than my real life. If it weren't for Sam and Dean, watching SN just wouldn't be worth it. Especially now, when I have to change the channel so often in the middle of the show..........

I don't at all subscribe to the theory that everyone who hates Bela, does so because they are jealous fangirls. However I do think Ruby has been more readily accepted because she is a demon and therefore less likely to get romantic with one of the boys.

People seem to be much more forgiving Katy Cassidy's questionable acting skills than Cohan's, not to mention her looks, her accent, and whatever else people can find to shred about the actress herself. This fandom did the same with Alona Tal and Jo, and frankly it makes me very uncomfortable. You can dislike a character and not like a performance without resorting to vicious attacks on the actress that plays her. I can understand why anyone who reads that kind of nastiness, then dismisses the opinions as those of jealous fangirls.

As far as Ruby's characterization, to me it is on par with the Colt. She's essentially a plot-point rather than a character. If I have to watch a mediocre actress or actor for that matter, I'd rather the writers at least try to give them an actual character rather than just plopping them down with whatever convenient solution is necessary for that episode's problem. That is all they have done with Ruby so far.

Same goes with characters that are just used for exposition. Jim Beaver is great and so is Samantha Ferris, but there is a tendency for the writers just to use them as convenient exposition rather than making them an organic part of the episode.

While many may not like Bela, I have to commend the writers for actually trying to make her an interesting character in her own right. Personally I find that far more satisfying to watch.

Female fan. 30 plus years of age. I'm loving the season. Sterling K. Brown's performance in "Fresh Blood" was stunning. I applaud your writing of Gordon's complexity. The two key scenes between Dean and Sam in the hotel and fixing the impala showcased the outstanding chemistry of Padalecki and Ackles. That was a payoff worth waiting for. I've pretty much enjoyed everything. I think Katie Cassidy was a real find who's improving in every scene. That being said, I hate to pile on. That doesn't mean I won't do it. You know what's coming.

I'm afraid I have to throw my lot in with the so called fangirls. Ms. Gamble, a redemption story for Bela isn't the way to go. Interest is low and so are the ratings. You want to take the chance of more Bela? Red Sky at Morning was the glaring exception to this season's string of entertaining episodes. I've no interest in the character. I find myself wishing you'd find Julie Benz, who must be in between filming seasons of Dexter, and beg her to come back for a few appearances. I find myself wishing very much for Ellen's return. How about having Meg possess Taylor Cole's Sarah? She was a great character who'd fill the young breast quota required by the CW. Lauren Cohan had an uphill battle from the start and it's not her fault that Bela's been written so poorly. The proof's in the pudding, though.

Someone who's experienced as much tragedy as Dean has in his life doesn't need to be "put in his place." It's not entertaining to watch. Why do you think we'd want to watch that? So Bela had a sad childhood? Big deal. So did Sam and Dean. I don't care about Bela. No amount of sob story is gonna make me give a damn. It's not entirely your fault because you were forced by the network. I understand that. But...the network isn't forcing you to write an unwanted reedemption story. If you don't reconsider, the ratings are going to go even lower. 2.87 million, right after Bela's episode and the mass turn off at the half hour mark, isn't going to lure those viewers back. Lauren Cohan's strengths obviouly lie in her character being amoral and devious. Don't ask her to give the character layers that very few are interested in seeing. Red Sky at Morning was easily the worst episode in three seasons of Supernatural. You want a love interest for Dean? Bring back Lisa. Bring back Jo. Bring back Layla. Don't write an idiot sob story for Bela.

I totally agree with what Ashputtel posted. All it is JEALOUSLY that Bela maybe a love interest for Dean and some fangirls can't stand for girls to around or if he even if he hads sex, because it's not you and they make every excuses in the world. Dean's story "What little of it there is" interest me more than Sam does.

Ah, Sherry, it is too bad that when lacking in a reasonable or intelligent rebuttal to those of u opposed to Bela, you throw out the sad and trite old "you're just jealous fangirls."

Honestly, the posts I've read here are full of insights on character that have nothing to do with being a homonal jealous fangirl.

Please, when you come to the plate, bring more than a toothpick argument to bat.

You know this whole "the fans who don't like this female character because they're jealous" is getting really OLD.
Plenty of fans are quite open to the possibility of Dean having a love interest, but what they are not interested in is the foundations of Dean's character (namely the his extreme love, loyalty and protectiveness of his family) are destroyed in order for a character to become his love interest. Bela shot Sam, was willing to let him die and gave the two of them up to Gordon; she's done something that's UNFORGIVEABLE in Dean's book and, therefore, the possibility of Dean and her hooking up SHOULD be ZERO!

If the writers had announced that they were bringing Layla or Hayley or Mara or even Ellen back and that things might start cooking between Dean and said female character, I doubt that the majority of fans would be having the reaction that is going on now; in fact it'd be quite the opposite I think!

Far from the dislike of Bela showing crazy fangirl/boyism if anything it's showing that people are reacting to what is on screen. Prior to the season's start, Bela was by far the one most people said "She seems interesting, I can't wait to see her. She could add something different and interesting." Both the character and the actress had a lot more goodwill towards them than Ruby did. If many of those same people are now saying they dislike the character, dislike the portrayal and find that she is a disruptive presense to the story rather than adding to it and have no interest in having her redeemed/hearing her sob story, it's because they are basing it on what they have seen in 3 rather sizeable appearances by the character.

So far I don't mind Ruby but I despise Bela. Nothing they can do with the character, after the actions she has already committed, can make me believe the boys will ever find her to be an asset or trust her or ever voluntarily want anything to do with her. The only thing I want is for Dean, being of sound mind and body, to fulfil his promise to shuffle [her] off this mortal coil and make her "ex-Bela".

I agree JustMe! Sera's is the one I think writes Dean dumb mosty to make Sam look good because Sam's her favorite and she thinks writing Dean dumb will make the fans hate him, well Sera for your info it doesn't it makes me love Dean more than Sam, which I did anyways.

Sera: You can say what you will, but the truth is, this fandom is built on the relationship between Sam and Dean.

Well said, Kay - this fan totally agrees with what.

This is just something that happened, and it's posed challenges.

Also, Ms. Gamble, yes this fandom has been wary of new characters, but there have been plenty of characters, female characters in particular, that perhaps you all intended as one-shots, that the fans have also embraced and have voiced a wish to see again - Layla, Sarah, Mara, Missouri, Det. Diana Ballard, etc. Perhaps instead of looking at the challenge of how to make fans like the new characters that we're introducing, you should consider challenging yourselves to finding plausible ways of bringing these characters back into the Winchesters' lives.

Next, I too would like to request that Ellen be brought back and more than once. In Ellen you have a fabulous female character that the majority of fans have embraced and that has so much to add to the story.

Lastly, Ms. Gamble, I think that you're a fabulous writer but that the direction you are taking Bela's character in is a HUGE mistake. You created Gordon, one of the best adversaries ever on Supernatural and I know that you can make Bela the same way...forget the boring, cliche story of Bela's sad past and future redemption and go with Bela - a self-interested sociopath, who has no qualms about what she does or the people she hurts. Also, stop having it so that everytime that Bela and Dean are together that it suddenly seems like Dean sold his intelligence along with his soul to the CRD. It does not make Bela look witty or smooth to have her make disparaging remarks to Dean and have him suddenly dumbstruck, nor does it make her look like a skilled thief when she does something that should be physically impossible unless Dean was an idiot - all that serves to do is make Dean look dumb while doing nothing to help build Bela's character to become a worthy advesary to Sam and Dean as she has never bested the Winchesters at their best.

Mitch, She does have some say in it too. Actually quite a bit since she's a producer for the show. Just because Kripke is the creator and main guy doesn't mean the other people working for/with him don't have some say in what goes on too.

Marissa, It's not my "prejudices" that are in the way of liking the character of Bela, it's that I honestly don't think they've done a good job with her. It's not just the writing because I don't actually think the acting is very good with that character either but the writing is still a part of it. It's all been very cliche with her and I think it's ridiculous that it sounds like they're actually going to try and redeem her. I like strong female characters, nothing wrong with that. I LOVE Ellen. I'd love to have her back and would much rather see her than Bela who I really don't agree is interesting or strong.

ashputtel, Give me a break. Just because tons of people don't like Bela has nothing to do with misogyny and frankly I think that's the way too overused response from those who are just pissed because we don't see this supposed chemistry that some people who like Bela try to say they have. I actually think it's sad how quick some people assume there is chemistry just because there is some back and forth dialogue (and frankly her and Dean's interaction is dull because it's cliched, overdone, and dumbs him down to try to make her look good). I love well done female characters like Ellen who really should be on the show instead of the smarmy Bela. What's to stop them from falling into bed if she was redeemed? Oh how about the fact that she shot Sam, was going to leave them both for dead at the end of BDaBR, messed with the Impala, pointed them out to the cops, stole the hand from them, and led the man who was determined to kill Sam straight to them. Seriously it doesn't matter how much they try to redeem her after all that, there's NO way that the Dean we've been watching for the last two seasons and 7 episodes would ever get with someone who did all of that. He's beaten, tried to kill, and/or actually killed people who have done less than those things let alone all of those things put together.

This Deangirl likes Bela so far and I think Cohan is doing a fine job with what she's been given. I like that she seems so irredeemably bitchy. If they choose to make her more three-dimensional, I'm all for that too. I just love watching Dean and Bela dance around each other. I think the actors have great chemistry.

But I do agree that the writers need to stop dumbing Dean down in order for Bela to look like Dean's finally met his match. With a bit of imagination, the writers can show that without making Dean like a fool. Then again, the writers tend to dumb Dean down in order to make Sam look good too so that to me is a symptom of the often lazy writing that happens on this show.

But honestly, the rest of the show has become so Sam-centric (including the deal which Dean can do nothing about) that Bela is pretty much the only story-opportunity left for Dean's character as far as I can tell so far. Sure we may delve into his pysche a bit to see how freaked he is about going to Hell, but that seems to just be filler for the real story which is Sam's ridiculously over-the-top destiny.

So yes I'm not enjoying this season as much, but it has very little to do with the new girls. It's because the show really has become all about Sam. I understand that Kripke's primary interest is in Sam's journey, but that's only one part of why I watch the show. Since that has become the main focus now, I'm not sure how much longer I'll be sticking around.

I totally agree with what Ashputtel posted. All it is JEALOUSLY that Bela maybe a love interest for Dean and some fangirls can't stand for girls to around or if he even if he hads sex, because it's not you and they make every excuses in the world. Dean's story "What little of it there is" interest me more than Sam does.

I can't Ruby because she got more of a arc than Dean does and he one of the main characters, Sam brother. I think Dean needs to send her demon ass back to hell.

PLEASE don't kill Dean he's the heart and soul of this show and you don't kill the heart of something good.

yea i have to agree some of the newbies are so bad.

I love Bela and I can't wait to see her back story. Bring on the angry sex. Although I would really appreciate it if when Bela pulls one over on Dean, you actually show us how she did it instead of doing it off camera, because that does make it look too much like you're giving her a free pass instead of genuinely making her worthy of Dean.

However Kripke please ignore the general howling fangirls and Samboys...they are downright psychotic when it comes to love interests on this show.

I agree with whoever it was that said the fans are actually starting to turn me off the show.

Why is everyone talking about it like this writer gets to decide what happens on the show? Its Eric Kripkes show, she just writes for it and she does some publicity. If your going to be mad be mad at the right person.

I actually really like the character of Bela... I think that it is cool that she is spineless BUT I don't see a problem with telling her back story (which after Red Sky at Night I really want to know about) and I also think that it would demonstrate good writing to have her character be multi-dimensional. It doesn't do anything to help the show having a one-dimensional character, in fact it hurts the quality of the show. Also, don't let your prejudices get in the way, the creators of the show are very talented and they have done a good job with these characters- it wasn't done sloppy so give them a little credit. Also, they haven't made them love interests and they did make them antagonists. Furthermore, you can't get rid of Ruby because they have painted the picture that Sam's destiny in undeniably linked to Ruby- because perhaps he is the antichrist and she is leading him to that and I for one (and along with a number of other viewers) am fascinated to see where that story goes. And Bela's character, although a little awkward at first has turned out very interesting. Give the writers a little credit, it is not going to become "One Tree Hill with Demons". What is so wrong with strong female characters, most everyone loves Ellen and I'm pretty sure that we Mary Winchester was pretty strong and determined too. Even the Sarah character was liked and Meg.

SG: You know, I think it was sort of like an accidental thing that happened. It was just the unique chemistry of this show, it's just the way that Sam and Dean's characters came together to form the central relationship of the show that makes a certain segment of our fan population really nervous about anything that would pull them apart from each other. I guess it's a testament to how sticky and deep that relationship is and how compelling it is, but I don't think when Eric devised this show and devised these two brothers he intended that to be the case. Shows are alive, and characters become more and more alive the more you write for them. This is just something that happened, and it's posed challenges.

Sera: You can say what you will, but the truth is, this fandom is built on the relationship between Sam and Dean. Sure, it’s wrapped within the guise of a horror show, but that just serves to embellish the mytharc story plotline in their journey. I cannot speak for everyone, but in my opinion, it's not just a "certain segment of fans" that are nervous about the brothers being apart. Rather, I would say it's the majority. And it's not just that the brothers are apart, because certainly if they are apart due to the actual storyline, involving investigation of a case and/or the supernatural, then that kind of thing makes sense. And I understand that right now, Sam and Dean are pretty far apart emotionally, due to the Deal and some secrets Sam is keeping from Dean. And yes, it's painful for the fans to see the brothers as disconnected as they have been up until Fresh Blood, but it is understandable considering the circumstances and their situation. HOWEVER, this does not excuse the creation of a character simply to provide a way to separate the boys because keeping them together poses challenges to the writers. Um, too bad.

Bela would have been acceptable as a one-off character in Bad Day, which I really enjoyed. But to be perfectly blunt, Red Sky was one of THE worst Supernatural episodes ever (and apparently cost this show A LOT of viewers, as is evident in the ratings for Fresh Blood). And to shoe-horn her into the storyline, as is evidently the case, is simply unacceptable. And it isn't because we crazy fangirls (although at 40, I wouldn’t refer to myself as a fangirl) are jealous of the boys having females around. That's ridiculous. The problem is that Bela does not "fit" in the world of Supernatural as a recurring character and this is no more evident than the storyline for Red Sky. Besides seeing the boys their tuxes and some useful brotherly exposition, it was awful. It didn’t even feel like an episode of Supernatural, but more some kind of horrible Moonlighting ripoff. Oh, just look at the contrast between posh sophisticated Bela and goofy neanderthal Dean – so cute and funny! Look how cool and stylish she is compared to the blue-collar lug! Blech. SHUT UP SHOW!

And oh, speaking of Dean… Sera, where do I begin? To me, Bela’s primary use on this show is to dumb-down Dean. Period. [He chews gum? He’s a *Hunter* who doesn’t know about a Hand of Glory? He gives out his cell number and location to someone who has no regard for Sam's life?] Please hear me now: Dean had better not have sex or any kind of romantic feelings for someone who would a) leave Sam for dead; and b) shoot him! This is his Sammy! Not only is the inclusion of her doing a great disservice to the character of Dean and the enormous (!!) talent of Jensen Ackles by making his character a one-dimensional caricature instead of the beautiful, layered, three-dimensional character HE’S worked so hard to create these past 2 seasons but, more importantly, it doesn’t serve to further our storyline, because Bela doesn’t exist within it organically. That is clearly evident. And a SOB STORY in her background? Why, of course. Seriously, I could not possibly care less.

Oh, and I don’t really care what Kripke intended the show to be about. He should care about why the fans love the show and why they stick around to watch it. It’s because of the boys, their relationship, their journey, their heartbreaks and triumphs…THEIR WORLD. But if this is all going to be wasted simply to insert a useless out of place character into the show to make the writer's job easier, then I’m really thinking this writer’s strike is a good idea. Maybe this is a good opportunity for you, Eric, and the other powers that be to wander around online and get a feel for the fan’s reactions to what this is doing to your show. I'll be blunt again, it's not pretty. But I do want to thank you for that final scene in Fresh Blood between Dean, Sam, and the Impala. The single best scene of the season involves the boys and the car. Imagine that.

I'm adding to the pile of Bela hatred here. Sera you wrote a fabulous episode Fresh Blood and it's one of my favorites except for the totally unnecessary addition of Bela. I can't stand her. Dean becomes PodDean whenever he's around her and Sam says stupid things like "she has style." SHE SHOT SAM. The real Dean wouldn't get into the same room with her let alone give her his phone number. She has betrayed the guys 3 times now. There's no way the real Sam and Dean would ever trust her after the first time let alone the third. There's no sob story tragic enough to ever get past the betrayals. Sam and Dean had about the worst tragedy of all and they are heros, unselfish and compassionate.

Sera if you want any chance of us viewers caring about Bela have the guts to make her a real villain. Make her worse than she is now. And give her a reason to be on the show other than oneupping Dean every five minutes. Make her really evil, unrepentent and unredeemable. Give her a reason to hate the boys. And the best antagonists are those used sparingly. I'm sick of her and Ruby being in every single episode. I watch for the brothers and their relationship and that's all I care about.

I love Supernatural, I love the interaction and the strong bond between the two brothers (the beautiful relationship between these boys is the reason that makes me watch this show), and I love more and more the way Padalecki and Ackles play their characters : they're awesome ; especialy Padalecki : in each episode, he manages to bring new dimensions and depth to his character Sam ; he's stunning !! And Ackles is great,always playing his character as if he was Dean in his real life.

But I don't like the character Bela and the way Miss Cohan plays it. I can tolerate her if she remains the bad character she has to be... But I don't think that if the writers make her a "good" character, I'd buy it...

Just read Sera's interview....perhaps it's time to replace Sera? Clearly, she doesnt' get the fact that WE DON'T WANT RUBY AND BELA!!!!! They don't work.

I've never left the room in the middle of an episode, and certainly never changed the channel, until these two came along.

This was a great show, and could be again, if R & B just go away and are never seen again. Too bad Gordon didn't double cross Bela last night. Would have redeemed him a bit......

I see SN from Barcelona (Spain), "Fresh Blood" was one of the best episodes of season 3 with "Bed Time stories", incredible episodes. I agree with you Bela should stay badass, nothing else, she hasn't any chemestry with the boys, please, I mean, if at least she had charisma to be bad... but she hasn't ! that's the problem.
As one of you said: "I really want Bela to remain a cold bitch" at least this.

About Ruby, I like her, but we haven't seen enough and I need to see much more....
Thanks a lot for the interview.
Besitos a todos ! ;-)

i feel like I'm in the twilight zone.

Posted by Barbara: "If the writers and producers continue to ignore fans, the fans will take a substantial turn "off" the TV set when Supernatural is on."

This is already happening. Due to the pity poor ratings of the BEST episode of the season, I bet Bela being in the opening scene made some people change the channel. hell, I almost did twice, during the last two episodes (FB & RSAM). Bela is annoying and her excessive appearance is beginning to steer me (and others) away from supernatural. She's dragging the program down. What the hell has the CW forced on the Supernatural writers by contracting Lauren?!?!?

Bela undergoes a "substantial turn": this is the biggest tv cliche and will be supernatural's JUMP THE SHARK moment.

Ms. Gamble if you're reading this:
A) Please rewrite the Bela script you've yet to finish.
B) Please talk kripke into shredding Lauren's contract.
C) Please have Dean keep his word - ensure he's the one who kills Bela.

Thank you.

I think this is the first time that the audience is bellow 3 millions for an episode..
Should be a "sign" no ? as soon as people saw Bela they just turned off and watched something else.
And please do not tell me that she has actually signed for 12 episodes...third appearence and fans are already fed up with her
Please Sera, Eric, do something before it's too late. We don't care about Bela or her story, we do not want any redemption or anything else. All we want is her out of the show, she shoot at Sam, she stole the car, she gave them, come on, another caracter would have died on the same episode for less than that
If you guys do not want to listen (read) what fans are saying that's ok with me, but figures don't lie...people are living the ship...
Do anything (kill her, send her back to..wherever she belongs), we all want our "supernatural" back ...for more seasons..

PS : Dean speachless in front of her ? come on...

I just want to say this,and this only
BACK OFF BELLA, I mean, come on people i know you guys think that she's a love interest of dean, and i really don't care, seeing that i'm a dean's fan, but let's just wait and see what happens with her character, remember when we first heard of supernatural, and thought WTF, it's just about two brothers hunting scary things,but it's involved into more than that, it's involved into a show that we can't wait to watch,and then when it's over we just want to watch it over again. so think of the good times and forget the bad.
P.S.good acting on jensen's part,but jared may need to step it up a bit especially with his big ego.

I love SN, but if Bela stays i will stop watching.

She offers nothing to SN, where as Ruby fits in perfectly.

Hahaha! Supernatural fans are nothing if not predictable. This fandom is almost enough to turn me off the show with its rampant misogyny and tedious jealousy of any female characters that might actually become love interests. Let's not be coy here, that's why fans are so angry Bela might be redeemed. She and Dean have amazing chemistry, pretty much every review has mentioned it, and if she wasn't evil what's to stop them falling in the sack?

I hope Kripke stops reading the boards because plenty of the less 'hardcore' fans are happy to let him tell them an interesting story without dictating where it should go like bratty five year olds.

I have to agree with most people here - the Bela character sucks and doesn't belong in Supernatural and Cohen's acting is third rate at best. I cringe everytime she is forced into an episode for whatever reason has been dreamed up for her. She doesn't fit. She totally ruined Red Sky for me. And a back story for her - don't care, not interested and won't watch!! Truly disappointing and cliche for such an awesome programme. Sorry Bela needs to go very quickly before she brings Supernatural down.

The Ruby character I can just about bear, at least she has some meaning in the story. It's just Cassidy's acting that sucks big time, she can't pull of demon bitch. She needs to be possessed by someone that can actually act!

I was attracted to Supernatural because it was different and unique and told us a great story of two brothers and their life and struggles. That's the SN that works for me. That's the Supernatural I love, just Sam and Dean. This is why I watch and will continue to watch.

Yes we have to move on, we have to have other characters but at least make them fit into the overall story. Bobby fits. Ellen fits. Hell even Gordon and Hendrickson fit. And another plus they can all act and make us believe their characters. The girls just don't - they need to be salted and burned as quickly before they and their characters destroy a great programme.

Who cares about Bela and her sad little story? Nothing she says is going to change the fact that she shot Sam. She also messed with Dean's car and ratted them out to someone who was out to kill Sam. Plus, she's got no problem letting innocent people die while she sells things that could save them to the highest bidders. These are all things that are unforgivable to Dean. At least the Dean I have watched for the last two years. If the writers try to redeem Bela and the boys fall for it they might as well put the waterskis and get ready to jumped the shark. There is no way to this without recking the characters of Sam and Dean. This show is suppose to be about them. So either keep Bela a bitch or get rid of her.

If we are going to get a cliche soap oprea storyline, give us the twin one and bring back Nicki Aycox as Meg's twin sister. Than Ruby's demon can jump in her and we will once again get a demon bitch who can act.

I can see why they did it this way. They have two new characters with evil intent and they wanted to see how breaking one early vs. breaking one late would work out. I guess they have their answer.

In the meantime, Bela is getting an awful lot of airtime for someone I am having a lot of trouble liking (has nothing to do with Lauren). The level of hate (we all saw Dean's face when he hung up on her, yes?) that we share with the boys for her will be difficult to overcome, no matter what you come up with. You have a mountain, for sure! I'm still faithfully watching, but my fingers and eyes and toes are crossed that whatever is up her sleeve is mindblowingly BELIEVEABLE.

That said, I enjoy Sera's episodes the most for the metaphors and archetypal alliterations toward each of the boys (like Dixon for Dean and Lucy for Sam).

In conclusion: NINJA!

First, let me say I support the SPN writers and the writer's strike. When it is over, I can't wait for SPN to come back.

However, Sera's interview has me puzzled. Doesn't she read the CW, TWOP or Livejournal forums? Because the MAJORITY of fans really depise the new characters, especially Bela.

The biggest compliant about Ruby is because Katie Cassidy cannot act, not because Ruby isn't interesting. My advice, Sera. Recast!

But, nearly 90% of fandom is united in the fact that we hate Bela. She is not helping the storyline and seems to be "dumbing" down the boys, especially Dean. GET RID OF BELA!

This past weekend along with 1,100 other SPN fans I went to see Jared, Jensen, Fred L. (YED), and Samantha Ferris (Ellen) at a SPN convention and I can tell you that nearly all 1,100 fans there were in agreement that we do not like Bela and Ruby. The booing and catcalling when their names were mentioned at Samantha Ferris' panel was deafening.

So, get rid of these two girls. Bring back Ellen, and give us more Bobby! Fans love these two characters. I understand that the CW (Dawn O.) wanted some young T&A, so you brought on Katie and Lauren, but it is not working, as viewed by the responses on this board and elsewhere. Cut your losses now before the show goes belly up and the ratings go down any further.

Bela? Yuck. She's a horrible character with no redeeming value. Get rid of her before she contaminates what's left of the season.

Ruby may be okay, but the actress who plays her is terrible. (and it sounds like she's in trouble now anyway.) Make the demon jump bodies and bring on someone who can act.

If you really need to inject some estrogen into your show (which, honestly? You don't. But since this decision seems to have come from the suits at the CW rather than grown out of the storyline of the show, then I guess you do) Anyway, if you need to bring on girls, then bring back Sarah. Or Ellen. Or even Jo, if it's the Jo from Born Under a Bad Sign. You seem to write great one-shot female characters, so lets have more of them! I'm sure the male viewers you seem to be trying to attract with T&A will be fine with variety, rather than horrible cliches that hang around long after their expiration date.

Anything has to be better than Bela.

I honestly didn't think it was possible for me to care less about Bela than I did, and now I read that we may have to suffer through a redemption arc for this person? She isn't even interesting enough to hate for me, all she does is bore me to death with her expressionless acting and irritate me with her nonsensical storyline. What is she doing on this show? Why are the brothers even associating with her after what she's done? The only reason I can come up with is because she's contracted to be a regular character and she has to be in a certain amount of episodes because I honestly can't fathom any other reason why she keeps showing up. Why on earth would Dean be stupid enough to give Bela their location? I love both the brothers, but I've always been more invested in Sam's storyline than Dean's. Even so I would be horrified for Dean's sake if he ended up hooking up with this lackluster character. Not only that, a character who has proven more than once that she is reprehensible. Dean just wouldn't do that.

And a tragic past? Well, boo hoo. Dean and Sam have endured many tragedies and they have emerged as heroes both. Bela goes through some sort of tragedy and becomes an opportunistic thief who doesn't care about how many people die because of her actions? I'm supposed to empathize with her? I don't think so.

Please, get rid of Bela. She doesn't fit, she isn't interesting, and I find myself fast-forwarding through her scenes. The thought of a Bela-centric redemption episode is enough to make me turn the channel for that particular episode. There's a reason I never watched No Exit after the once and never will. I wasn't interested in an episode about Jo and her tragic past, and I feel the same way about Bela. And we have to endure nine more episodes with her this year? Ugh.

Just reading over these comments, I hate Bela and all the comments have already said why so I won't get into that. However, I will say that I really don't want to see "angry sex" between Dean and Bela either. It has nothing to do with being "jealous" or some bull like that but rather I'd see it as completely out of character for Dean to do. She shot his brother not to forget all the other horrible things she's done to them both (including even more things that would have killed them). Like others pointed out with Dean's quote in Benders, he would NEVER sleep with someone who put his brother in harm's way like that no matter if it was hatesex or not. I don't care how redeemed you try to make her, it would just never happen and I'd find it completely against Dean's character. Especially since I don't see myself buying into her so-called redemption in the first place. Most people on this show have had hard lives, including the boys, and that's no excuse to behave the way Bela has.

This show doesn't need sex and romance despite what a certain CW exec seems to think. The boys' relationship is more than enought to make viewers tune in. This past weekend at the Chicago con, the boys were rewarded with a special forces coin because the military loves the show so much and S1 and S2 are the top requested DVDs across seas. It's an incredible honor and it was because they remind the soldiers of family and home. They don't need to sex up the show to make it powerful. Bring Ellen back because she's a million times the strong woman Bela ever wishes she could be. Bela is a joke.

Ok forgot to add this part.

I am not opposed to a 'redemption of Bela' story. But please let me preface that with I would not be pleased if it included Dean suddenly becoming all romantically interested in her.

As others have pointed out, she had put both Dean and Sam in danger and has without compunction put them both in situations where they could get killed.

If Dean were suddenly able to 'look past that and fall in love with her' he would cease to be the basic character of Dean Winchester that many of us are drawn to.

Yes I understand character growth and how somethings can be overcome. But one of the great foundations of the character of Dean Winchester is his deep, brotherly love for Sam and how important that is to him. This is a man who sold his soul into hell to save his brother so I can't see him falling for a woman who didn't care if she killed Sam or not no matter how she might be redeemed.

To do that would mean to create a fundamental change or rewriting of the character of Dean Winchester and while I'm all for character growth and challenge, some things just shouldn't be tampered with.

Of course that said, I find myself strangely unopposed to Sam and Bela becoming drawn to each other.

In fact I see that as an almost natural part of leading her to a path of redemption. For one of the foundations of Sam is his capacity to see beyond the bad and find the good.

Are you kidding me? It took them one freaking second to Bela into a Mary Sue - a coldhearted thief with a tragic past! Give me a break. I don't care what her past is, nor do I want to follow her little path to redemption. This is about Sam and Dean. Yeah, Sera, you guys created a style and feel that fans fell in love with, and may be hard to work with - but you don't pull it apart!

Kripke needs to take back the reigns of his show from the network, and from Sera. She's got decent ideas, but no finesse in the execution, and no idea of what a true antagonist is.

While I like the idea behind the concept of Ruby and think it is an interesting concept, I think the presentation of her as a character has fallen flat and is the one in bad need of an overhaul. I don't know it it is the actress or the writing, but Ruby is not working for me as she she is being presented on screen and that's sad because the concept is IMHO and as I said, one I think has great potential.

On the other hand, I continue to like Bela very much with each appearance she makes.

I like her because she is a refreshingly different character that has been added to the mix. She isn't a damsel in distress, she isn't another 'hunter', she isn't another demon with an agenda involving Sam and she isn't some love interest.

Bela IMHO comes across as is a unique perspective on the situation and she is a lot of fun to watch, especially in the dynamic she has with Dean that is refreshingly adversarial and competitive with not an ounce of the dreaded UST in sight.

No stupid 'cutesy' sexual chemistry being shoehorned in on us between them. Instead they are combative and abrasive to each other on a nonsexual level. This is also very refreshing because it gives us a whole different look at Dean as a person. Here he is for once not looking at some hot chick as a sex object or someone he can bed or romance, he is reacting to her on a different level and she is pushing a whole different set of buttons in him than if she were a romance or a sex partner. I would be seriously ticked off if this dynamic changed and they were suddenly making moo eyes at each other and falling into bed to have torrid sex.

I like Bela because the character adds different dimensions to Dean (and to Sam as well) Her interactions is with both of the brothers and affects both of them whereas I see Ruby as isolating them from each other in a way that just isn't working like it could or playing out for the dramatic effect that I think the writers are intending with her.

With Bela I like that we, along with Dean and Sam, are frustrated with her and could cheerfully strangle Bela. So far I think she has been a great addition to the series..but with the preface that her appearances are limited and not become too much.

I do have to respectfully disagree with Sera Gamble when she says that Bela is like a Rick in Casablanca type character. I think she is more like a Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind type character.

Yet all that said and done, I want Ellen Harvelle back! I'm sorry CW execs but you should have been at the convention in Chicago this past weekend and seen all the hot young twentysomething year old guys there drooling over Samantha Ferris and loving every minute of seeing her and having photos taken with her.

They certainly didn't think her T&A (as Samantha calls it) was too old for them LOL!